


To Begin Again: Aincrad's Underworld

by MiniMe1776



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Romance, Team as Family, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29986158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniMe1776/pseuds/MiniMe1776
Summary: It was impossible, yet it was reality—two worlds, different yet the same, merged under rather unique circumstances. Trapped in SAO for a second time, how will our heroes escape yet again, especially when the world is very different from what they remember?Kirisuna, time-travel, canon divergence post-episode 15 of the Alicization Arc.
Relationships: Eugeo & Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito, Eugeo/?, Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito & Yui-MHCP001 & Yuuki Asuna | Asuna, Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	1. Rewind

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> ~BREAKING NEWS~ I OWN ZERO PERCENT OF THIS CONTENT. (Well, except for the plot, and I don't know if that counts... -v('-')v-) All of it belongs to the owners of Sword Art Online and any other fandoms I may inadvertently reference. Thanks for creating such an amazing series for me to mess around with.  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Update Schedule as of 3/9/21 (to head off any comments asking about it):
> 
> I don't have a solid update schedule... I'd never be able to stick to it and it would only serve to stress me out. Here are some general guidelines though, based on how quickly I've been able to write these first three chapters, I might be able to get one out every five or so days. After the first chapter, it took me 3-4 days to write chapter two, and five days to write chapter three. I don't know if it will take me longer or shorter to write chapters in the future, but that's what I'd assume.  
> \-------------------------------------------------------------------  
> I've noticed a distinct lack of 1: Alicization stories, and 2: time-travel stories in this fandom (at least on FFN, I've seen plenty of Alicization stories here). I'm looking to try my hand at it, though I've added my own twist... it's not a typical time-travel story.  
> Warning, beware of OOCness and other errors, this is my first foray into SAO, and not to mention I'm not exactly a professional writer... Also, if Kirito/Asuna bothers you, don't read this. There is a lot of Kirisuna.  
> Another warning, I have little-to-no knowledge of Japanese culture, and in order to refrain from insulting anyone due to trying and failing, I've opted to just go with what I know... so beware, you're not likely to find much in the way of Japanese honorifics or anything here. The occasional suffix and Onii-chan are more or less the extent of my knowledge.  
> Also, despite knowing she's an AI, I am personally of the opinion that Yui is an adorable ten-year-old who just so happens to be ridiculously smart. After all, she is technically 4 or 5 years old by Alicization, depending on when she was programmed.  
> Enjoy!

"Against all odds, you have made it all the way up here," said Alice Synthesis Thirty, standing up from where she had been sitting under the tree. "I had anticipated that you would escape from the prison, but I did not anticipate what happened next. Eldrie should have caught you, yet you defeated him, then Deusolbert, I have no idea how. Then, you defeated Fanatio as well, and now, you have set foot here. It is shocking. Where do you get the power to overcome such knights? Why do you wish to disrupt the order here? Explain yourselves!"

Kirito tensed. This was the pivotal moment. If he made the wrong move, they would have to fight her... and while they did have plans if it came to that, he had at least hoped he would be able to get her to see reason. "Alice Zuberg..." he said quietly.

Alice froze. "What did you say?" she demanded, armored fists clenching.

"Alice Zuberg!" he said, more strongly this time as he gained confidence. "Don't you recognize that name?"

"It... feels familiar," the woman in blue and gold admitted, wincing as she brought her hand to her forehead. "Yet, when I attempt to think about it, it hurts."

"I thought so," he said.

Her gaze shot up to meet his once more. "You speak as if you know the reason! I demand your explanation!"

Kirito exchanged a wary look with Eugeo.

Deciding to be blunt, Kirito spat it out. "I know how the Synthesis ritual works, and it's not how you think."

"How could you know of such a high-level sacred art? Only the pontifex knows of it, and given that you are criminals, she would not tell the two of you."

"The pontifex is not the only one," Kirito argued. "There is another. Cardinal."

Alice gasped. "You have met the librarian?"

Eugeo nodded at his childhood friend. "Yes, we have."

She adopted a more thoughtful look after hearing this new information. "I can tell you are no agents of darkness as the pontifex had claimed. But, what reason would she have to lie to us, her loyal order of knights?"

Kirito sighed. "She might have feared that you or one of the others would learn the truth. As it is, Deusolbert is out of commission, not because we killed him, but because he knows the truth."

"Deusolbert is alive?"

"Yes," said Kirito. "All of them are alive. We didn't kill any of them. Cardinal should be healing Fanatio as we speak."

Alice eyed Kirito shrewdly. "The librarian is on your side, then."

"Yes," Kirito said again.

"What is it you know about the Synthesis ritual?" Alice demanded.

He grinned. "You weren't called down from the heavens as Administrator has claimed. No, you are born citizens of Underworld, with your memories sealed away. You, Alice, were not born Alice Synthesis Thirty, but Alice Zuberg of Rulid Village!"

Alice cried out in pain and fell to her knees, clutching her forehead as a purple prism emerged.

"This... and the...  _ pain! _ are proof... enough... of your claims..." she managed to spit out through sheer willpower. "How... do I undo... this...?"

"There is a memory fragment that contains your childhood years at the top of this tower. It's actually why we initially came... you see, Eugeo here is your childhood friend, and we wanted to get you back."

Alice screamed, hands moving to her right eye as it bulged and turned red, displaying the message:  **SYSTEM ALERT: CODE 871** .

Kirito's eyes widened. "ALICE! STOP!"

"NO!" she yelled back through tears, having finally discovered the truth. "I AM NO PUPPET!"

At this, she wrenched her hands away, and her eye exploded in a shower of gore.

It wasn't pretty.

Tearing a strip off of his uniform, Kirito dashed forward and wrapped it around her head, covering her empty socket. "Step back," Alice ordered wearily as she struggled to her feet.

Tearing off the black cloth, she pressed her hand to the affected area. "System call, generate luminous element; repair lost organ."

The two boys watched as a green light shone from her eye socket. When she pulled her hand away, her eye was there, looking as if it had never vanished in the first place.

"I will help you," she declared as the purple crystal receded back into her head. "I desire what the pontifex took; my memories."

"You will?" Eugeo asked hopefully as he walked up.

Her eyes hardened. "Yes. I... we have been betrayed." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Unc-Bercouli Synthesis One, he would be your next opponent. We must tell him of this, get him to our side."

* * *

"Little one," said Bercouli, resting in the bath. "Why are you here, with these criminals?"

"Uncle," said Alice carefully, "the pontifex has been controlling us by removing our memories. We were not called down from the heavens as we thought, but had previous lives! I am Alice Zuberg of Rulid—" she paused and winced as a stab of pain lanced through her mind. "You were someone once too. Our memories are with the pontifex! We must get them back!"

"So you have broken the seal," said Bercouli, smiling sadly at his surrogate daughter. "I've tried for three hundred years, and I haven't been able to break it."

"Uncle?" Alice said weakly.

He stood abruptly, placing his hand on his sword. There were tears in his eyes. "I have no choice," he whispered. "I don't have the willpower to break through."

"Uncle— _ father! _ " Alice cried.

"I will not kill you, little one," he said sadly. "I could never. But, I am forced to stop you. I am truly sorry... I—I cannot break the seal."

Kirito and Eugeo drew their swords. They knew that knocking out Bercouli would only be possible if they did it before he put his own weapon in perfect control.

" _ Enhance armament! _ " Eugeo and Kirito yelled in sync, the former slamming his sword into the floor and the latter gripping it firmly and pointing it at Bercouli.

Alice looked at them, mouth agape, as their perfect weapon control arts flew towards Bercouli, who was unfazed.

" _ Time Splitting Sword,  _ **_release recollection!_ ** " the powerful man boomed, swinging his weapon towards his attackers.

The three powerful attacks collided, and the world  **_broke_ ** .

* * *

It was at that moment that several impossible things happened.

In the biggest data transfer in human history, Bercouli's time-splitting sword did exactly what its name implied. It split time, though on a scale hitherto undreamt of. It was impossible, yet it was reality.

Two days were linked together by a temporal strand, held together by Bercouli's sword. Those days were the present day, and November 6th, 2022, the launch day of Sword Art Online. Thousands of Underworld residents screamed in agony as their fluctlights passed through the strand and overwrote Aincrad NPCs, though none screamed louder than Quinella, who overwrote the 100th-floor boss. Noticing the intrusion to a secure room, the Cardinal System stripped Quinella of her Admin status and locked her in the boss room. While still a formidable opponent, she was no longer quite as invincible.

Cardinal, the librarian, quietly suffered as she suddenly replaced the large AI program known as the Cardinal System, and took over Aincrad.

Akihiko Kayaba, who had just finished his speech to the ten thousand trapped players, swore as he was forcibly ejected from his Nerve Gear, deemed a foreign object by Cardinal. Following the digital trail, Cardinal also deleted  _ Heathcliff _ , Kayaba's SAO account.

Kirito screamed as he overwrote his past self's SAO avatar before passing out.

Eugeo and Alice screamed as they materialized next to Kirito, not overwriting NPCs because they lacked the seal of the right eye.

Asuna had been playing ALO with Klein, Leafa, Sinon, Silica, and Lisbeth to pass the time on the Ocean Turtle. Due to the connection her fluctlight had to Kirito's, however, Asuna was also pulled back in time, and due to their proximity to her, as well as the party that they had set up, so were the rest of them. Yui, who was also there, was pulled back alongside her family.

Next to Kirito, who was spasming on the ground, Klein's past SAO avatar was also overwritten, and he clutched his head as pain flooded his senses. Throughout the starting plaza, this happened to the rest of Asuna's ALO party.

However, Sinon and Leafa hadn't been SAO players, so instead, their avatars materialized a few feet above Asuna and crashed to the ground on top of her. In the real world, despite the impossibility, Suguha Kirigaya passed out in the middle of the living room, a Nerve Gear helmet having suddenly materialized on her head. This also happened to Shino Asada, who was in her bedroom.

Deep in the heart of Aincrad, Yui-MHCP001 fell apart and was replaced by a small navigation pixie that was  _ much _ more self-aware, who gasped as she saw the familiar darkness which had surrounded her.

The landscape shifted and altered itself, and Underworld's magic system was implemented into Aincrad's base code.

All in all, it wasn't quite Underworld, but it wasn't quite Aincrad either. What  _ was _ for sure, was that it was still a death game, Cardinal couldn't change that.

* * *

"—ito! Kirito! Wake up!"

Kirito groaned and shifted uncomfortably.  _ Why was the ground so hard? _ "Ugh... five more minutes Eugeo..."

"Kirito! C'mon, get up buddy!"

Kirito's eyes shot open. "Klein! How..."

Eugeo was kneeling in front of him. "Come on, I'll help you up, lazybones."

"Don't hurt him, guy-who's-name-I-don't-know," came Klein's voice again from behind him.

Kirito scrambled to his feet and turned, only to see his old friend. "Oh my god, KLEIN!" Without another word, the elated swordsman practically tackled the red-haired samurai-wannabe.

"Whoa there," Klein laughed, hugging him back. "It's only been a week! You're acting like it's been years!"

Kirito backed up suddenly, eyes wide. "A week? It  _ has _ been years, Klein, and speaking of that, how on Earth did you get to Underworld?"

"Kirito..." came Eugeo's quiet voice from behind him, prompting him to turn. "Where are we—no, who is this, how do you know him,  _ and _ where are we?"

Kirito was about to respond, but then he looked away from his two friends and his breath caught in his throat.  _ No _ . This looked like the central plaza in the Town of Beginnings in Aincrad...  _ Old Aincrad! _ The players all around him didn't have the elvish ears like ALO players, they looked like normal  _ humans _ —SAO players! That was when he noticed how crowded the plaza was, and how quiet it was,  _ and _ how all of them looked like they were in shock...

" _ No, _ " Kirito gasped with growing panic.  _ It just  _ **_couldn't_ ** _ be! It couldn't! _ "Klein... do you recognize this place?  _ Please _ tell me I'm dreaming..."

When Klein didn't answer, keeping his gaze fixed to the ground, Kirito's heart shot to his throat. "You... you deserve an explanation, Eugeo... I'm sorry."

Eugeo frowned. "Don't apologize, Kirito, I'm just a bit confused right now. An explanation isn't necessary until later," he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, I guess you got your memories back, then?"

Wincing, Kirito nodded. Catching the motion, and likely figuring out what it meant, Eugeo sighed. "You can explain later, just know I'm not mad. I know you well enough to know you had your reasons."

"How did we get here, anyway?" Kirito asked, smothering his negative emotions and bringing up his ever-reliable facade of calm. "Last thing I remember is you, me, and Alice... Alice! Where is she? Is she here?"

Eugeo stepped aside and gestured behind where he had been standing, and sure enough, there was Alice, lying unconscious on the ground.

"Uh, who's waking her up, and who is she?" Klein asked, joining the conversation again. "She looks dangerous..."

Kirito looked at Eugeo, shrugging. "She's your childhood friend."

Eugeo's mouth dropped open. "K-Kirito! You're the one who talked sense into her! Why not you?"

"Hah! You're just scared!" Kirito laughed. "Whatever, I'll handle it."

Kneeling down next to the asleep girl, Kirito tried shaking her awake. "Alice?  _ Alice? _ "

"Ugh," she grumbled, cracking an eye open and wincing at the bright light. Kirito backed away as she sat up and looked around at the crowd of people who were still staring upwards towards where Kayaba's avatar had floated.

Following her eyes, Kirito also looked around. Turning to Klein, he asked his friend, "Is it just me, or have they been frozen for a while? I don't remember them staring at where he stood for this long."

Klein frowned. "I don't think so... lemme test something real quick..."

With that, he stepped up to the nearest player and gripped their shoulder. "Hello?" he asked.

The player remained frozen. Kirito frowned. "That's not right," he said.

"What is happening? Where are we?" Alice demanded.

"I wondered when you would notice," came a childish voice Kirito and Eugeo recognized.

"Cardinal!" Kirito exclaimed. "Finally, someone who can explain what's going on."

Alice gasped. "The librarian?"

"Who?" Klein blurted. "Good lord, Kirito, you're gone for a week, and shit like this starts happening again?"

There was a burst of light and suddenly Cardinal was standing before them. "When you and Eugeo activated your perfect weapon control arts, they both collided with Bercouli Synthesis One's own art, from his sword called the  _ Time-Splitting Sword _ . Can you guess where I'm going with this?"

Kirito paled. "Where... where are you going with this?"

Cardinal pinched her brow, sighing. "The date is November sixth, of the year 2022."

He slumped. "Oh, hell," Klein said succinctly.

"But... that isn't possible!" Kirito exclaimed.

"What isn't possible?" asked Eugeo, who looked completely lost.

Cardinal nodded, ignoring Eugeo. "It isn't possible, yet here we are, where it all begun."

Kirito's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"

"I know a lot of things," she said mysteriously.

"Hey, if those two got pulled here by some weird fighting thing they did, what are me and that knight chick doing here?" Klein asked, as subtle as ever.

Cardinal  **sighed** . " _ Anyways _ , for Eugeo and Alice, who seem confused, the year you were in before this... incident, was 2026, at least in this world."

"Wow," Eugeo said. "That's a lot of years! Where are we, for the dating system to be that high up?"

Kirito groaned. "Eugeo, I'll explain it all to you and Alice later, right now, it seems important that we know what's going on."

Eugeo shrugged.

"So," Cardinal said, "you're back in time four years. Somehow, though, you aren't the only ones. All throughout this world, the... NPCs, I think they're called, have been overwritten by Underworld residents, and most of the humanoid... mobs, as you call them, have been replaced by Dark Territory inhabitants, such as pugilists, goblins, orcs... you get the idea. Just know, Kirito, they all have fluctlights now."

Kirito let out a huff. "This is  _ bad _ . None of the players are going to know, they'll mercilessly slaughter them! If we try to say anything, they'll think we're crazy!"

Cardinal appeared to be thinking. "I can make it so that they respawn, so to speak, since they aren't classified as players."

Kirito sighed in relief. "So, you're the admin here?"

Cardinal nodded. "Yes, I'm lucky that I arrived after Quinella. It seems that the previous Cardinal System stripped her of her Administrator status and locked her inside the boss room on the 100th floor."

Kirito looked at Cardinal hopefully. "Does that mean you can let us out of here? At least can you make it so we can respawn?"

"Unfortunately, those seem to be the only things I can't do here."

Klein swore. "Damn it. I bet that means we gotta go through this whole thing again! And this time, we won't get the easy way out like last time with Kayaba's deal."

Kirito slumped his shoulders again. They would be lucky if it took them three years to get out. Three whole years...  _ Wait _ . "You mentioned others," Kirito said haltingly, "was that specific to the NPCs and mobs being overwritten? I'm asking because Klein is somehow here with us, and... well... he wasn't exactly in Underworld..."

"There are several other travelers," Cardinal said clearly. "They are scattered throughout the plaza. Also, one of the mental health counseling programs was overwritten too. I wonder how it got involved..."

"Wait," Kirito said abruptly. "What's the codename?"

Cardinal eyed Kirito curiously, noting the almost desperate gleam in his eyes. "Yui, Yui-MHCP001," she said.

Kirito could hardly contain his excitement. "Can... can you call her here?  _ Please? _ "

Cardinal shrugged and snapped her fingers. With a pop and a flash, a small pixie clothed in a pink dress appeared in front of them.

"That's not the default appearance!" Cardinal exclaimed.

" _ Yui! _ " Kirito yelled.

With another flash, the pixie was a ten-year-old girl in a white dress, jumping into Kirito's arms. "Daddy!"

He swung her around. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too! Is mommy here? I know she misses you too!" Yui said happily, enjoying being in her father's arms again.

"Daddy?" Eugeo asked incredulously.

Kirito smiled. "I know it's a little unorthodox, but she's my daughter in every way that matters."

Cardinal shook her head, looking amused. "You adopted an AI mental health counseling program? She wasn't even programmed to have emotions! But... she has a fluctlight now... It doesn't make sense."

Eugeo looked even more confused, and Alice had long since stopped paying attention, knowing she wouldn't understand until Kirito explained with an explanation more curtailed to them.

Noticing this, Kirito sighed. "We should wrap this up, Cardinal. Eugeo looks like his brain is about to explode, and Alice looks like she stopped paying attention a little while ago. You mentioned others. Please, take us to them?"

"I can take you to them!" Yui chimed in, picking up her head from where it was buried in her father's chest.

Cardinal sighed again, but this time it sounded relieved. "Good. I would appreciate that, Yui. There is much for me to do... this has not been a very clean transfer, and what I have told you barely scratches the surface of what has changed about this world in its merging. If you ever need my assistance, just use your menus to contact the GM, who is me, incidentally. At the very least, I need to ensure that the field and floor bosses stay contained."

"Right," Kirito said, smiling at his daughter as she beamed. "I'll be messaging you later, Cardinal. I still have a few more questions."

Cardinal nodded, before fading away.

There was suddenly an odd sensation of time itself speeding up, and their ears popped as the crowd started whispering before screams broke out.

"We need to get out of here," Klein said, looking around. "I stuck around longer than you did last time, Kirito, and you don't wanna be here for what happens next."

This made Kirito stop in his tracks. "Shit!" he swore.

"Daddy!" Yui scolded, though she did crack a small smile.

"Klein, your guild! Fuurinkazan!"

"Aw, man! I totally forgot about them. Oh, this is a mess."

"You should know vaguely where they were, right?" Kirito asked.

Klein nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"Take them, and meet us at the north entrance of the town. We need to figure out the lay of the land. Cardinal said it changed, after all."

"You got it," Klein said, giving a mock-salute and sprinting away.

Kirito turned to Eugeo and Alice. "I'm sorry, this is probably incredibly confusing for you two right now, but we need to get to safety before I can say much more. Yui? Can you take us to Asuna... if she's like us?"

"Don't worry, Daddy! Mommy is here, just like you and Klein!"

Kirito finally allowed himself to hope... to hope he could see Asuna again. After two whole years...

"Kirito!"

"Kazuto!"

"Kirito!"

Kirito spun and found himself face-to-face with his fiancée, his sister, and his best friend apart from Eugeo, all of whom were in their ALO avatar forms.

"Asuna!" Kirito breathed before launching himself at the woman he didn't dare hope he'd ever see again.

"Oh,  _ Kirito _ ," she said in that way of hers that made his heart melt.

"It—it may have been around a week for you like Klein said... but it's been two years for me... and oh, I've missed you  _ so much! _ "

"I love you," Asuna whispered into his ear. "I'm here now. I'm not going away. We're together again, a family again."

"Sorry to break up whatever this is," Sinon said, gesturing vaguely at the reunion, "but we're kinda confused... one minute we were partying around in ALO, and then, somehow, we're here? Where even is this?"

Leafa looked as if she wanted to say something, but paused, seeming to have an internal struggle, before deciding to speak. "I... I think I remember this. Isn't this what the Town of Beginnings looked like in Old Aincrad? I remember seeing it in some of Kazuto's screenshots from the beta."

"Aincrad?" Eugeo asked. "Isn't that..."

Sinon did a double-take looking at Eugeo. "Do you have a secret twin, Kirito?"

Kirito coughed. "What?"

"He does look like Onii-chan, doesn't he?" Leafa agreed, eyeing Eugeo appraisingly.

"Screenshots? Is that like your other expression, Kirito? Stay cool?" Eugeo asked honestly, turning to his best friend, and definitely not expecting the roaring laughter that erupted from Sinon.

"Oh," the girl wheezed, "priceless! Stay cool?"

"Anyways," said Leafa, taking the attention off of the giggling girl. "Screenshots are pictures you take from inside a game. It's slang. Also, I didn't catch your name, Kazuto's secret twin."

"I'm Eugeo, but how do you go inside a game? And what's a picture?"

Asuna frowned. "Eugeo, do you know where you are?" she asked kindly.

The boy in blue shook his head. "No, Kirito said he'd explain later, once we got to somewhere safe." He shot a confused look at his friend. "I'm rather looking forward to that explanation... I don't understand half of what's going on here, and I bet Alice here is doing no better than me."

"Alice?" chorused the three females.

"Alice is behind Uncle Eugeo!" Yui said happily from where she was once again hugging her daddy. He needed it after being away from her for so long!

Eugeo sputtered. "Uncle Eugeo?" he blurted helplessly, staring at the cute little girl who was clinging onto his best friend for dear life.

Ignoring the blue-clad boy, everyone looked attentively as Alice stepped up. "Hello, I am Alice Synthe—uh—Alice Zuberg, it's nice to meet you." She gave them a formal bow.

Asuna raised an eyebrow at the stumble, but stepped forward and bowed in return, though in a slightly less formal manner. Then, she smiled. "You don't have to be so formal, Alice. Any friend of Kirito's is a friend of mine."

"Asunaaaaaaaaa!" Liz skidded to a halt behind Asuna, Silica a few seconds behind her, looking exhausted. "Was there a bug or something? This is some glitch, I gotta tell ya. It looks like Old Aincrad in here! I can practically feel the terror—oh my god, is that you Kirito? How are you here? We've all missed you and your badass sword, but aren't you supposed to be on some sort of high-tech VR treatment like Asuna said? Oh, new people? Hello, I'm Lisbeth, but you can call me Liz, whatever works! Something weird's happening for sure though—"

"Liz, calm down!" said Kirito, laughing.

Eugeo nodded nervously to Liz. "Uh, hi Liz, I'm Eugeo, nice to meet you!"

"Wow, a boy? We've only got two of those! Well, now three! Welcome to the team! I'm sure you'll fit in  _ just great _ ," Liz said quickly, beaming.

Kirito decided now was as good of a time as any to send the mood crashing down... it had to happen eventually, didn't it? "Sorry to kill the happy mood we've got going, but the situation is a little more serious than you think."

"Oh no," said Silica with a smile, who looked a little more composed than before. "Guys, this is Kirito. The bad things that happen to him are always really weird. Prepare yourselves."

Kirito sighed. "I've really outdone myself this time."

Eugeo chuckled.

"The logout button is missing from the menu," Kirito said without preamble. He might as well have shot the mood three times in the head with the way everyone quieted.

"Kirito-kun?" Asuna asked, sounding slightly fearful.  _ He wouldn't joke about something like this... _

They all pulled open their menus and stared blankly at the empty space where the logout button was supposed to be.

"There's a good reason that everyone's panicking," Kirito continued, frowning as he took in their reactions.  _ He hated making them scared or sad, but... there wasn't a way he could explain it that wouldn't end up with that result _ .

"What is it?" Leafa asked cautiously, hating the way her voice quivered.

"Check the date on your in-game calendar."

Liz fell to her knees, all traces of the cheerful, outgoing girl had vanished. "No. No... no! It can't... I—I can't do it again! We already left! Finished it! Why..."

She nearly fell over when she felt Kirito's strong hand grip her shoulder. "This time you won't be alone, Liz. We're all here. I'm not going solo... in fact, I think we should make a guild."

This time it was Asuna that nearly fell over. "A g-guild? Kirito! You've never liked or felt comfortable with guilds before! Are you sure?"

He nodded firmly. "We're a family. We'll stick together... I mean, if you guys want to?" He looked around at them nervously, suddenly aware that he had been speaking as if it was guaranteed that they would join.

He was startled when Asuna smacked him on the back of the head. "Silly Kirito-kun, of course, we'll join your guild! What did you think?"

"Wait a minute!" Kirito protested. "My guild? When did it become my guild? I thought it would be ours?"

"Silly Kirito," scoffed Liz as she stood up. "Who else would be the leader of our guild but the Black Swordsman?"

"Black Swordsman?" asked Eugeo, who looked thoughtful. "I can see that, with his inclination to dark clothing and his unique fighting style."

Kirito shifted uncomfortably. "It's not unique, Eugeo, it's just not a style used in Underworld by anyone other than me."

"Really?" asked Eugeo, clearly interested. "Who else? Is there anyone here who uses the Aincrad Style?"

There were several groans. "Kirito, you  _ didn't _ , did you?"

Kirito was once again left stammering. "They kept asking me what style I used! I had to give it a name, after all."

"I think Daddy's style is very unique," chirped Yui,  _ still _ clinging to her father. Alice shot a curious look at the child.

"What do you mean, Yui?" asked Leafa, who was always interested in learning something from her very cute niece.

Yui screwed up her face, which made her look even  _ cuter, _ and adopted a thoughtful pose. " _ Well _ , everyone here had different ways of fighting. Sure, Daddy may have based his "Aincrad Style" off of Sword Skills from SAO, but the way he uses them and the moves that  _ aren't _ Sword Skills are of his own design, perfected over the two years he spent here. I told you once, Daddy, I liked to watch you and Mommy. I got to see you experiment with new things every time you went leveling. Eventually, everything you were doing melted together into your own personal style! It's very original! I doubt that anyone could replicate it without him tutoring them himself!"

Eugeo raised a timid hand. "Yes, Uncle Eugeo?"

"Kirito  _ did _ teach me his Aincrad Style!" Eugeo said, a hint of pride in his voice.

Liz giggled as all eyes  _ swung _ to Kirito. "Wow~ Kirito  _ teaching? _ Who would have thought the dark and broody Mr. Black Swordsman would ever be a teacher!"

"Liz!" Kirito complained, drawing laughter from the group. He smiled. If this is what it took to keep away the despair and fear, at least for a time, he would let Liz humiliate him for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hated doing that to Bercouli, making him turn against Alice, but it was necessary to get the story rolling. Don't worry! He'll definitely return later, and won't be an enemy.
> 
> Also, I know the bit with the Nerve Gear materializing on Sugu's and Shino's heads was stretching it quite a bit, but I'm not sure what else I could've done to get them in the game...
> 
> If you liked it, please comment. If you hated it, please comment as well. As you can probably tell, I like comments. It lets me know what everyone's thinking, and sometimes commenters have pointed out errors I've made, and it's helped me make my stories better.


	2. The Town of Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2.
> 
> Hope you like it!

Despite the fleeting happiness, the mood was gone as quickly as it came.

As they pushed their way through the crowd, Kirito ended up having to threaten several players who attempted to snatch some of their visibly higher-tier weapons, which, for obvious reasons, scared them off rather quickly. Others simply gave them dirty looks, quickly deciding that the more well-geared up group were hackers—which, though not true, wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to make. How else could they have gotten such good gear?

Despite this, Kirito couldn't really care less what the masses thought. The last time he'd lived in SAO, he'd been reviled as a Beater, a term which caused him more amusement than annoyance. _Seriously, couldn't you come up with a better name than Beater, Kibaou?_

As their large group neared the entrance which they were leaving out of, Kirito stopped and turned to Asuna. "I just realized," he said calmly, hiding his annoyance at himself, "that you, Sugu, Sinon, Liz, and Silica all have pointy ears."

Liz let out a few colorful expletives, earning a grin and a smack on the arm from Silica. "I might still have the mirror," said Asuna thoughtfully, opening her menu absentmindedly and scrolling through her inventory, which was incidentally quite full. Unfortunately, she didn't have one. When she relayed this information to Kirito, he sighed.

"I had been hoping to avoid contacting her _this_ early for help, but I suppose we should before we're seen by even more people..." Kirito pulled open his menu and pressed the button to contact the GM.

A fraction of a second later, Cardinal was standing on a floating book in front of Kirito, peering into his eyes. Shocked, the swordsman stumbled back a few steps, to the amusement of the librarian. "What is it that you need?" she asked grumpily, having quickly descended from the high the amusement gave her.

"Wow, someone's in a bad mood," Liz commented unnecessarily. "Also, who are you?"

"How about _you_ try smoothly integrating two worlds that aren't all that compatible. Also, in case it's not clear, I'm Cardinal. I'll ask again, Kirito, what did you call me here for?"

Kirito held up his hands in a plea of innocence, offering the childlike avatar a sheepish grin. "I noticed that Asuna and the others all have their ALO avatars. Would it be possible to quickly normalize their appearances?"

Cardinal nodded. "I already have all the information I need from the scan, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Hopping off of her floating book, which disappeared in a poof of rainbow glitter, Cardinal walked over to Asuna. With a tap on the nose, Asuna fell backward and hit the ground with an _oomph_ as the magic began doing its work. In less than a minute, Asuna was a mirror image of her real-world self from 2026.

"How did you know what I looked like?" she demanded.

"I know a lot of stuff," said Cardinal mysteriously, vaguely mirroring what she had said to Kirito earlier.

Cardinal stepped up to each of the girls and repeated the process until she reached Liz.

"Don't touch the hair, shorty," Liz threatened. "I like my pink the way it is!"

Cardinal gave Liz a _look_ and bopped her on the nose, and a few moments later, Liz sighed in relief as she saw her still-pink hair.

Sinon groaned. "I should have asked for my blue hair to stay... and for my eyesight to remain good," the now glasses-clad girl complained.

"Don't dwell on it," Cardinal said casually. "Your vision would have worsened anyway, now that Underworld processes have been implemented. Over the next few days, the graphics and sensory details will gradually improve until they are on par with what was in Underworld—a sensory system just as good as the real world. Underworld is, again, different from other VR systems, being _much_ more real. Instead of the hollow shells the players would be in SAO with no organs or blood, everyone in Underworld does have these characteristics, and as the game settles in and the brain adjusts, will take cues from the brain. If the brain is used to bad eyesight, the wearer will have bad eyesight. This might be a problem for players with physical disabilities, but there's little I can do about it."

Sinon sighed.

"What do you mean, real world?" Eugeo asked, shooting Cardinal a curious look.

Kirito pinched the bridge of his nose. "Long story, Eugeo, I said I'd explain later."

Eugeo sighed. "No problem Kirito... I'm just _really_ looking forward to that explanation."

"So am I," added Alice, who had mostly stayed quiet, trying to learn as much as she could from the conversations flowing around her.

"Anyways," Kirito said, "how are Underworld graphics and sensory details carrying over? Isn't this still running on the SAO servers? Not even that, but how can you more accurately display the senses? Shouldn't that be limited by the Nerve Gear?"

"There's a reason that these things are being implemented slowly. Argus has noticed the increased strain on their servers and is increasing the server capacity and bringing in more equipment as we speak. The Nerve Gear is much more advanced than you think, Kirito. It's just limited by the game you're playing."

Kirito nodded. "That makes sense, thanks."

She gave him a nod, and without another word, disappeared.

Eugeo sighed again. "I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised by anything anymore."

"Don't be sad," Yui said, smiling, "Daddy said he would explain once we're safe! He always does a great job explaining things to me, so don't worry!"

"Thanks, Yui," said Eugeo, forcing a smile. He wasn't mad at Kirito, and certainly didn't begrudge him his family, but... would there be space for him once everything was all said and done? _At least we have Alice back_...

"Sorry to cut in," said Kirito as he picked up Yui and put her on his shoulders, which made her squeak, "but we should get going. I told Klein to meet us at the north entrance."

"Klein's here? Why isn't he with you now?" Leafa asked as they began walking again.

"His guild," said Asuna with a look of dawning realization. "They were all SAO survivors. I forgot about that. It's... been a little while."

Liz pouted. "I guess that means he's not gonna be joining our guild, then."

Kirito shrugged, making Yui giggle as she bounced. "Who knows. He's been hanging out more with us than them lately, I thought, but maybe since he's back here again he _should_ be their leader in order to guide them around, as he's certainly more experienced than them now."

"It's not like we'll never see him if he's their leader," said Leafa thoughtfully.

Silica laughed as they approached their destination. "Like any of us would ever let that happen!"

"There you are!" exclaimed Klein, leaning against a wall near the archway.

"Where's your guild?" asked Kirito, giving the samurai a fist-bump.

Klein jabbed a thumb at the building he was leaning against. "Drowning their sorrows in alcohol. Told 'em not to, but what do I know?" He shrugged helplessly. "They're gonna get themselves killed, and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. They've been glaring at me since I showed up in all my samurai-splendor!"

Kirito sighed. "Crap... I forgot about your ears. Cardinal's gonna be pissed at me."

He flipped through his menu and pressed the button to contact the GM for the second time in thirty minutes. The next thing he knew, Kirito had a faceful of angry Cardinal as she glared menacingly at him. If he hadn't been holding onto Yui's legs, he was sure she'd have fallen when he flinched violently.

" _What?_ " she hissed, clearly incensed.

Kirito gave her a sheepish look. "I... may have forgotten to ask you to help with Klein's appearance too..."

Cardinal looked just about ready to pull out her hair. Despite this, Klein looked perfectly human a moment later.

" _Goodbye_ ," she growled before fading away again.

Klein couldn't help but be unnerved. "What's her deal, Kirito?"

"What do I know?" Kirito said, shrugging helplessly, which resulted in Yui giggling as she bounced on his shoulders again. "Do you know?"

Yui shrugged as well, quickly sobering. "She could be overwhelmed," the little AI said thoughtfully.

"Klein, can you get your guys? I don't like the way everyone on the street's looking at us," Sinon said suddenly, giving the passing players wary looks as several stopped to stare.

Klein sighed. "I'll do my best. See ya guys in a minute. If I'm not out in... let's say, five minutes, send someone in to help, please?"

"You got it," Kirito told him, giving him a mock-salute.

So, they waited.

After a few minutes, when Klein had yet to come out, Kirito began to worry. By five minutes, Klein still hadn't emerged from the bar.

"I'm going in," he announced. "It's been five minutes, which is when he said to head in."

Asuna sighed. "You and your _reckless_ self... I can't find it in myself to be surprised."

"Yui, you better stay outside with your mommy in case this gets ugly," Kirito said softly to his daughter who was still sitting on his shoulders, blatantly ignoring Asuna's jab.

"Okay," she agreed, hopping off when he knelt down.

"Don't get hurt," warned Asuna, giving him a light glare.

"Of course not," Kirito replied, grinning. "When have I gotten hurt helping out a friend?"

"I don't know, every time?" she retorted, rolling her eyes but unable to keep a small smile off her face.

Kirito huffed and made his way inside.

* * *

It was quite obvious to all that saw him that Roran the bartender was _not_ having a good day. It had started out just fine, he'd woken up next to his wife, like usual, and had made himself a decent breakfast before heading out to open his pub.

Roran's Beer and Ale was one of the most popular bars in Centoria, and he'd always been swamped with lots of customers. A year or so back, he'd felt the stress a bit more keenly and had caved and hired help. He'd finally gotten too old to manage it by himself. The kid, his help, had come in just on time today, as was the norm, and the two had worked in silence to prep for the day.

Everything had been going well until something _weird_ had happened in the early afternoon, though. He was pouring a drink for one of his regulars when, suddenly, _everything_ hurt, and the entire room erupted into chaos. When the pain finally vanished, the kid and half of his patrons had disappeared.

If that wasn't bad enough, when he stepped outside to take his daily break, the layout of the entire town before him had seemingly changed. _Was this perhaps related to the sudden pain and the disappearances of his patrons?_

That wasn't the worst part, though, not by a long shot. Within the next half-hour, hundreds of patrons flooded in and out of his bar, humans he had never seen before, and he prided himself in knowing most of the people living in his sector. _Where were they all coming from?_ This would have been good for business had they not breached every form of etiquette he knew and violated the Taboo Index several times. Had he been younger, he would have thrown half of the patrons out of his bar. As it was, he was too old for such strenuous activities.

He had been tense for the entire time, worried that an Integrity Knight would be paying him a visit later.

And now, as if everything else wasn't enough, a fight looked like it was about to break out. Not five minutes ago, a man dressed in a strange black and red garb with very unkempt ginger hair had walked in. That wasn't unusual for the day. He'd seen more than his fair share of crossdressers with... revealing clothing, nothing could phase him now.

However, he grew tense as the man walked purposefully towards the rowdiest group of men he'd served. Not ten seconds later, Roran found himself grabbing his shield as the man was lifted bodily into the air by a chubbier member of the group he'd approached. The next few minutes were even worse as the men began arguing. By the fifth minute, the one who'd been hoisted into the air looked ready to draw his sword, and from what Roran could see, he wouldn't blame him. The men who had been drinking were much more aggressive than the man being held up.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and in stepped a very familiar figure. Roran sighed in profound relief. Kirito was a man with a profound sense of justice, he knew. He should easily be able to safely settle the situation, being one of the most promising students of the Sword Mastery Academy with his revolutionary sword style. "Kirito?" Roran called, making the man's eyes snap to his. "Could you help with those men over there?"

Kirito sighed, nodding. "That's actually what I'm here for, Roran. Hell of a day, huh?"

"Worst day these old bones have seen in years," Roran agreed.

"I guess I'll get to it," Kirito said, shrugging as he turned towards the loudest area in the room. "Hey, Klein! What's going on over there?"

The man being held up—Klein—sagged with relief. "Thank god you're here, Kirito! I was beginning to worry you'd leave me to rot!"

Kirito turned and looked at the one holding him up in the eyes. "Please put him down. What did he do to you?"

Blinking, the intoxicated man peered at Klein. "Okay," he grumbled. "I'll put down the hacker."

"Hey!" Klein protested angrily as he was set down. "What's gotten into you, Dale?"

"You're a goddamn hacker, that's what's gotten into me!" yelled Dale, stumbling backward a bit as he nearly lost his balance. "Ever since that announcement, you've got all this fancy, high-level gear! What else could it be?"

Klein sighed. They weren't going to believe him, that much was clear. The truth certainly wasn't believable, and now that they thought he was a hacker, he couldn't think of much that would change their minds. Unfortunately for him, Fuurinkazan hated hackers with a passion. He had hoped they knew him well enough to know he wouldn't hack, and that he hated hackers just as much as them, but they apparently didn't.

The only way to get out of this was unfortunately a lie... he hated lying to his friends but what choice did he have? They wouldn't believe the truth, and if he abandoned them they'd just get themselves killed! Better them eventually feeling betrayed than them dying.

"It was a glitch!" Klein protested. "The party I was with today totally glitched out when the mass teleport happened. One minute we were coming back from killing those boars and all of a sudden, there I was with some weird robe and some cool sword. It wasn't just me! I mean, look at Kirito, the guy right behind me! He was partying with me today."

Dale frowned, studying Klein's face intensely as if trying to catch him out in a lie. "Alright," he said finally. "Only because you bein' glitched out makes more sense than you being a hacker. I didn't think you were one to hack but when you showed up in those kick-ass robes with that awesome sword what was I supposed to think? It's day one, people just _don't_ get those kinds of drops on day one."

Klein sighed but nodded in understanding. "I get where you're coming from, just maybe next time hear me out? All that was happening earlier was you screaming at me, and I could barely make out half of what you were saying. I didn't really even get a chance to speak."

Dale nodded, looking a bit sheepish himself. Klein hid a wince... he really hated deceiving them, but the truth really was very unbelievable... it hadn't really sunk in for him yet either. He was sure that later that night he would end up screaming his head off, agonizing over the loss of four years of progress through his life, but not yet. This was more important.

Klein sighed. "We need to get out of here, though," he said. "This place is already descending into chaos, stuffed to the brim with ten thousand panicking gamers. We need to get the hell out of here before anything bad happens."

"Aww," one of the other men, Dynamm, slurred. "But we jus' opened another bottle, Klein. Can't we jus' finish this las' one?"

Without another word, Klein snatched the bottle out of Dynamm's hands. "No, can't have you getting any drunker. Too bad there isn't anything to sober 'em up."

Kirito shifted awkwardly. "Well..."

"Wait, really?" asked Klein enthusiastically. _If that was true, maybe he could hit the bar every once and a while..._

"I don't personally know the art," Kirito admitted, "but the bartender, Roran, might. I was a regular around here for a while, before all _this_..." he gestured vaguely at the players around the room. "He helped me and Eugeo out a few times."

There was a gleam of interest in Klein's eyes.

"Hey, Roran?" Kirito called over his shoulder.

The bartender stumbled, trying to pretend he hadn't been watching the whole time. "What is it, Kirito? Can I get you a drink or something?" he said, recovering rather well.

Kirito rolled his eyes at the man's antics. "A few friends of ours might need the Magic Cure-All. We might need..." He looked at the table. "Well, about five should be just right."

Roran blinked in surprise before grinning. "Give me five minutes, and I'll have 'em ready for you."

The bartender winked at Kirito before disappearing around back. The second he disappeared, several players shot nasty glares at Kirito.

Dale squinted at Kirito. "Magic... Cure... All?"

"It'll make you sober," Kirito said bluntly.

Dale drew himself up to his full height. "You sayin' I'm drunk?"

"Drunk as a skunk, Dale," Klein said with a laugh, shooting Kirito a look that said _back down_.

Wincing at how much he had provoked Dale, Kirito could only nod weakly back at Klein. Luckily, the men at the table were oblivious to that particular interaction and just laughed outrageously at Klein's attempt to divert Dale's attention, the man who it had been directed to laughing the loudest.

Thankfully, the rest of the five-minute wait wasn't quite as eventful. When Roran came back out with five small cups on a platter, the five drunk men were back to talking and laughing hysterically while Kirito and Klein kept an eye on the other players who were sitting around the room.

"Here you go," Roran said kindly, handing Dale the final drink.

"How much do I owe you this time?" asked Kirito.

Roran smiled. "On the house, old friend. You prevented quite the fight. I have to repay you somehow."

After Roran had gone back behind the counter, Klein looked at his friends. "You guys ready to head out?"

Kunimittz sighed, smiling contentedly. "Damn, that stuff was good, and I feel so much better now. Who was that guy? Do you know him, Klein? He didn't seem like some random NPC."

Kirito massaged his temples. He could almost feel a headache coming on. Couldn't things go well _for once?_

Klein laughed nervously. "Just an old friend of Kirito here."

Kunimittz shrugged. "Alright."

That was the end of that topic. While Klein helped his friends clean up the mess they made, Kirito went back outside to tell the rest of his friends what had happened.

* * *

"Just barely stopped what could have been a fight in there," Kirito said with a sigh as he shut the door behind him and walked outside to his friends and family. As soon as he got close enough, Yui wrapped herself around him in a big hug, which he returned readily.

"What happened in there?" Liz asked curiously. "You guys were in there for a while! Asuna was beginning to worry!"

"In the end, Klein and I got through to his friends. Unfortunately, we had to lie to them about what happened, because, is the truth really believable unless you've lived through it yourself?" Kirito said sadly.

"I don't like that you had to lie," said Asuna, frowning slightly, "but I understand why you had to. Just... don't make a habit of it. What did you tell them? We should know just in case they bring it up."

Kirito ran a hand through his hair. "They were upset that Klein had better equipment and such... they thought he'd been hacking, which honestly makes more sense than the truth. We told them that in the forced teleport to the plaza we glitched like crazy and landed with this gear instead of the basic stuff, and so did the rest of our party."

"Glitched?" Eugeo asked.

"Damn," Kirito swore. "Uh... Eugeo, Alice, try not to talk to them too much. It'll likely only end up confusing you and with them realizing we lied."

Eugeo shrugged. "Fine by me, I guess. I just hope they're not around long-term because if they are, we'll probably end up spoiling it eventually."

Alice just frowned.

A minute later, Klein and the rest of his friends emerged from the bar, and while all of them still looked extremely nervous except for Klein, they did look much more confident than they had before. When they reached the large virtual family, Klein decided to introduce his friends. "Everyone, this is Kunimittz, Harry One, Dynamm, Issin, and Dale, otherwise known as Fuurinkazan!"

Each man waved hesitantly to the group of people in front of them as their names were mentioned. While most of the people there did not need the introduction, having met Fuurinkazan in the timeline-that-no-longer-was, they still waved back politely, smiling.

When Klein didn't start introducing the rest, though, Kirito stepped forward, Yui on his shoulders again, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, Klein, you forgot to introduce the rest of us!"

Klein scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Whoops, sorry about that... well, since you stepped forward I guess you're going to do it instead?"

Kirito shrugged. "Why not? Well, anyway, I'm Kirito, sorry for not introducing myself earlier, I, uh... yeah. On my shoulders is the ever-cute Yui, and standing to my left is Asuna." Yui waved happily while Asuna inclined her head slightly, acknowledging the introduction with a smile. "Also here, with the glasses is Sinon, sniper extraordinaire, and next to her is my sister, Leafa. To my immediate right is Eugeo, and next to him is Alice. The macer in pink is Lisbeth, and next to her is Silica, who has a fondness for dragons."

While everyone exchanged waves, smiles, and other greetings, Kirito stepped back and watched everything with a smile on his face. It had just been so long since he'd seen them all. He couldn't be happier to finally have his family with him, because that was what it was, his family. Another few years in the virtual world wouldn't be too bad without them, actually.

He glanced at his in-game wife, smiling as he watched her sling an arm around Liz in a mimicry of a hug.

After all the pain and separation they had endured, it was so _good_ to finally be with her again. To be a _family_ again... Oh, how he had missed it. No matter how long it had been, he felt just the same being around her as he always had. She made him so, so happy.

"Are you okay, Daddy?" Yui asked softly, leaning forward to look at him upside-down.

He smiled, and it was genuine. "I'm more than okay, Yui... I'm happy. I'm so happy... You're all here, everything is perfect."

Yui beamed at him.

As the large group left the Town of Beginnings, Kirito found that he felt more alive than he ever had before, watching Eugeo and Alice laugh as they talked and joked with Asuna and Silica, watching Sinon and Liz roughhouse, watching Klein and Fuurinkazan push each other around, tossing friendly jibes at their fellow guildmates... it didn't get much better than this, he thought as he walked next to his sister with Yui on his shoulders. He would enjoy however long they spent in Aincrad this time. He wouldn't be the moody teen that isolated himself for so much of the time spent here like last time, he was going to be Kirito, father, husband, friend, and swordsman.

There was adventure ahead, and he couldn't wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun.
> 
> The more I write in this story, the more I like it. I hope I'm doing everyone justice... it's hard to fit everyone in! Right now it's a party of fifteen people, I think, and there are still a few people left to pick up. It's so big, I almost accidentally left Sugu completely out of the last paragraph! Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Again, if you loved it, leave a comment. If you hated it, leave a comment (I hope you didn't hate it, but I can't please everyone). Whatever you felt about it, leave a comment and tell me why! I love getting feedback from readers, and sometimes it even helps me make the plans I have for future chapters even better! So, criticize all you want, it'll help :)


	3. Danger on the Path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three is here!
> 
> I hope you enjoy the bit of sibling fluff I included in this chapter. After neglecting her for the first two, I figured it was time Suguha got a bit of the spotlight.
> 
> Also, warning for violence. I wish the rating guidelines were more specific. I'm not quite sure whether this still fits in the T range, but let me know in the reviews if I should change the story rating to M. Dunno what counts as too gory for a T fic.
> 
> Here we go :)

As the group walked down the path, Kirito couldn't help but think that something was _off_ about their surroundings. While he hadn't spent the most time on Aincrad's first floor, he thought he would recognize the surrounding landscape at least a _little_ bit, despite what Cardinal said about changes to the map data.

However, nothing was the same, and he could tell some of the others noticed it as well. In the midst of her conversation, Asuna was occasionally shooting him nervous glances. Liz simply looked unsettled, eyes darting around as she nervously laughed at a joke Sinon made. And... well, Silica had never been the most observant of the group, but even she looked slightly uneasy. Klein had long since fallen silent, which was in stark contrast to the remainder of his guild, which was as rowdy as ever. He kept a firm grip on the katana he had quietly unsheathed.

But, what worried him the most of all was Yui, who was unusually quiet. The normally bubbly girl had a firm grip on his hair, and her legs were noticeably tense. Even the smile on her face seemed slightly forced.

Despite this, as they walked through the dense forest that Kirito had never seen before, with its dark, thick trees that reminded Kirito faintly of the Demon Tree that forged his sword, he tried to put it all out of his mind and concentrate on the positives; his family was with him, and they seemed happy... _mostly_. He smiled at his sister, who was one of the few who seemed genuinely happy, as she told him about what had happened in the short time he had been gone, and it almost felt genuine.

"Kazutooooo~" sang Leafa, frowning at her brother when he didn't react. "Hey, Kazuto?"

Kirito looked blankly at his sister. "What...?"

"Were you listening to a thing I said?" she asked suspiciously, jabbing an accusing finger at him as she hopped over a log lying on the path.

"Uhh..." Kirito winced, gripping Yui's legs tightly as he mirrored Leafa's hop. He knew he was in for it now... he couldn't even count the number of times his sister had screeched his ears off for not listening to her when she was actively speaking to—

"It's okay," she said with a faint smile, _completely_ derailing his train of thought. Noticing his utter surprise, she sighed, sidestepping a large rock blocking the path. "I'm not _that_ bad, am I? I'm sorry... but either way, I understand your distraction. I can tell nobody here feels as happy as they were when we were in town... well, except for Klein's friends, but they don't count, and I don't know your two new friends well enough to tell... but I'm sure you've noticed, right? You're looking pretty gloomy yourself, Onii-chan."

"Yeah..." Kirito said, trailing off as he dodged a low-hanging branch. "Something's not right here. I'm almost certain I haven't seen this forest before, and if this is Aincrad... well, something is off. While I know I didn't spend as much time on the first floor as some others during my time in SAO, I'm sure I would remember if I had seen a forest like this. It gives us all a bad feeling, you know?"

Leafa nodded. "So that's why everyone's so worried. It can't be too bad, right? It's just the first floor, and even with whatever weird crap has been happening around you like usual, I doubt it would be able to change the game so much we'll be finding monsters that are too hard here." She grabbed his arm, looping her own around it. "Whatever happens, I'll protect you to the end, Kazuto. You're my brother. I'll never let anything bad happen to you or anyone else here!"

"Can I get down, Daddy?" came Yui's tired-sounding voice from above Kirito, interrupting them. The adoptive siblings flinched at the sudden noise, stopping; it had been a while since Yui had talked. "My legs are getting kinda sore..."

"Of course, Yui," Kirito said, a genuine smile gracing his face once more. "Why not transform back into a pixie and sit in my pocket?"

"Uwaah," Yui yawned, "that's a good idea..." With a pop, she shifted into her pixie guise and dove straight into his shirt pocket, snuggling in with a happy sigh. "Goodnight, Daddy, Auntie Suguha..."

"Goodnight, Yui," the aforementioned auntie said softly, smiling at the pocket that Yui had settled in.

"Goodnight," Kirito whispered. "Your mommy and I love you so much, Yui."

"Love you too," was the muffled reply, bringing a smile to his face. They stood like that for a minute, the two teens listening to Yui's quiet and even breaths.

"She's so cute!" Leafa gushed, breaking the silence and grabbing her brother's arm again as they began walking once more.

Kirito rolled his eyes, ducking under _another_ low-hanging branch. "You always say that, Leafa."

Leafa grimaced. "Sorry, but could you... not call me Leafa in here? I look nothing like her right now, and... to be honest, I feel more like Suguha than Leafa. I feel so _real_... so, yeah. Just call me Sugu or Suguha like you would IRL, okay?"

Kirito shot her a surprised look. "Okay, no problem. You should probably let the others know too. They don't really know any better, right?"

"I—I guess not..." she trailed off, a frown marring her features. "I didn't really think about it, really. I guess I assumed they would call me by my real name because I look like I do in the real world."

Kirito nodded, having understood the reasoning. "Yeah, I understand that... when I first started treating SAO like its own reality I kept half-expecting people to call me Kazuto. It took me a while to get used to Kirito, to be honest, even though that's the name I picked for myself. It's nothing like now, which is actually the other way around, surprisingly enough. I've lived as Kirito for so long that, honestly, I'm not sure which name represents me more—ow!"

He batted away the offending branch which had smacked him in the face as he walked into it, wincing. "God damn it... why are there so many low-hanging branches around here?"

Suguha frowned, looking around again. "Um, Kazuto... is it just me, or is the forest getting thicker..."

Stopping the rubbing of his eye, which had nearly been taken out by _yet_ _another_ branch, he considered her words, looking around to see for himself. She was right, it _had_ gotten thicker, so much so that the sky was barely visible, in comparison to earlier, where the pathway was illuminated almost completely by the sunlight. Suddenly, Kirito cursed. "Shit, we've gotten pretty far behind everyone else... we'll need to run to catch up. I don't have a great feeling about this, Sugu. You okay to sprint for a little bit?"

Glancing around nervously, the kendoka nodded. "I'm fine to run... I can't believe that despite how real it feels, I'm still not tired."

As they started to run, Kirito shot his sister a wry look. "You'll start feeling it soon enough. You just have a pretty high stamina stat on your account to not be feeling anything at all yet."

Suguha blushed as she jumped cleanly over a large puddle. "Well, it is pretty high, I guess, but you don't look tired either! How high is yours?"

He smirked at her. "I just happen to be in very good physical condition, _little_ sister. I have been a swordsman for two years, after all."

"Why, you—!"

Kirito laughed as he picked up speed, forcing Suguha to do the same. "Can't catch me!" he yelled back, a teasing lilt to his voice.

"Don't worry, Onii-chan! I'll catch up soon enough!"

* * *

Eugeo walked next to Asuna, nervously gripping the hilt of his Blue Rose Sword as he ducked under _another_ branch. "He's reckless, I guess, but that's just who he is, right?" he said, glancing briefly at her before turning his eyes back to the path in front of him.

Asuna smiled. "At least he hasn't changed _too_ much. I was worried when he had said it had been two years... would he even love me anymore? But, if he's still getting into reckless adventures, he can't have changed so much that I wouldn't recognize who he's become..."

"I have not had the pleasure of constant interaction with him, but I will attest that he seems to be a very strong swordsman and a good man, at the very least," Alice added as she brutally cut off the low-hanging branch in front of her. Eugeo grimaced. She didn't remind him of the Alice he knew in anything other than looks, and even then, the armor she wore almost eliminated that sense of familiarity as well. Not that he didn't like _this_ Alice as a person, he just had been hoping to see his childhood friend again.

"Sorry to interrupt," Liz cut in, sidling up to Asuna, "but has anyone noticed how dark it's gotten? Not to mention, since when have the trees been _this_ dense? While I'm sure we'll be safe if we stick together, I'm not feeling so great about this..."

"Yeah," Klein said, the _frown_ audible in his voice, "Don't remember seeing anything like this back then. Just... everyone, keep an eye out, okay? Holler if you spot any trouble."

"Hey, where are we going anyway?" asked Dale, looking around at the thickness of the forest and how barely anything was visible past the first few trees.

"Well, I had supposed Kirito had somewhere in mind. Hey, Kirito—" Asuna started to say before pausing. Where was Kirito? She turned around, and since she was the front of the group, everyone else followed suit. "Kirito?"

"Damn," Klein muttered, taking his frustration out on a few nearby branches. "How did we lose him _again?_ Just got him back a few hours ago and he's already missing."

"Here!" came the yell of a familiar voice, faint at first but then growing louder as its owner approached. "I'm here!"

"God damn it, Kirito!" Klein said exasperatedly. "Where did you go?"

Kirito skidded to a stop and hunched over, putting his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. "We fell a little behind, sorry."

Asuna blinked. "We? Oh, Leafa. Where is she?"

As if stating her name had summoned her, Suguha came into view not even a second later, jogging at a medium speed. When she reached the group, she unknowingly repeated word-for-word what Kirito himself had said. "We fell a little behind, sorry."

Sinon laughed. "Siblings, through and through."

Kirito groaned while Suguha simply shot Sinon a confused look.

"Getting back on topic," Asuna said, quelling the budding argument with just a _look_ , "did anyone buy any maps or floor diagrams?"

Nobody spoke, several of the more veteran players looking sheepish.

"Kirito?" Asuna prompted, taking a step towards him. "Does Yui have one?"

Kirito grimaced, glancing down at his pocket and listening to Yui's quiet snores. "She's asleep right now, sorry..."

Asuna clenched her jaw and her grip on her rapier became white-knuckled. "Do you have any idea where we're going?" she asked quietly, with a tone that belied her anger.

Kirito shook his head, looking remorseful. He didn't expect the forest to be this big. He had expected that by now, they would have at least been in an area with more visible light...

"Hit him for me, will you?" Asuna said to Liz, who promptly smacked the back of his head.

"Ow!" Kirito exclaimed, before deflating. "Yeah... I deserved that."

"What do we do then?" asked Silica, gripping her dagger tightly as her eyes darted around.

Kirito sighed. "We could either go back the way we came, or I could wake up Yui, I guess..."

"No, no," said Klein. "We don't need to disturb her. We all have teleport crystals, right? Well, if it gets too late and we don't see anything else, we can just teleport back to the Town of Beginnings and stay the night there."

Kirito frowned. The Town of Beginnings would probably be at least somewhat safe, certainly better than being in the wild. However, being in the public eye was not a good idea, at least for now. They would stick out like a sore thumb with their gear, drawing all sorts of unwanted attention. "That is... not the best outcome, but it'll keep us somewhat safe, I guess."

"Keep going, then?" asked Harry One, arching an eyebrow at Kirito, who was forced to nod. What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

_This is the worst thing that could have possibly happened_ , Kirito thought with a fierce glower as he parried a strike from a snarling goblin.

They had been ambushed by a goblin clan. It wasn't a particularly small one either, nearing forty members strong.

Most of the group had been doing fine initially, save for Klein's friends, who had never had any sort of realistic combat experience. However, none of them, bar himself, Eugeo, and Alice, had experienced much real pain from the fighting they'd experienced. When there were about twenty goblins left, some people began to take injuries.

As the cuts and bruises began piling up, everyone seemed to rely more and more on the two residents of Underworld and Kirito. The three of them had ended up taking nearly four or three goblins at a time, the rest of the party teaming up, surpassing the hindrances of their injuries by the sheer force provided by their numbers.

And that was how Kirito had found himself fighting with everything he had.

The goblins swung their swords again and _again_ but luckily Kirito was faster. Every swing they made met his own blade without fail, many of his parries enough to stagger them. However, given that there were three of them and one of him, he had been forced on the defensive.

Normally, three goblins would not have been a problem for him, but for some reason, his sword felt... _weaker_. He privately hypothesized that when he had been forced into Aincrad, his sword had been adopted to the system, and given that he entered the game for the first time on the first floor, the stats adjusted themselves appropriately. He really needed to get it appraised... too bad Agil hadn't been sucked back in time with them. Despite the man's prices, he was damn good at what he did, and not to mention a very good friend.

Luckily, the durability seemed to be the same. It felt nearly indestructible, just like the tree it came from had once been. If it had been like any other normal sword at this level, it would have broken minutes ago. As it was, his swings didn't counter enemy strikes nearly as well as they would have just a day ago, and he knew that it wouldn't cut through the goblins as easily either.

 _Clang!_ He parried another strike... but this time was different! He had gotten lucky. The goblin stumbled backward, the sword in its hands shaking from the sheer force of the counterstrike. Kirito, sensing the opportunity, dashed forward, batting away the clumsy and panicked strikes the other goblins attempted. As soon as he was close enough, he ran his sword straight through the goblin.

The goblin gasped in pain, but Kirito ignored it and pulled his sword out, which made a disgusting, wet sound as it ripped open the goblin's chest even more on the way out. Glancing at it, he noted that parts of the dark blue blade were darker than usual; stained by blood. He turned away from the dying goblin, whipping his sword around just in time to parry the two strikes aimed at his back. He winced as he felt the unusual power behind their blades... their strikes had been stronger from their anger. These were no run-of-the-mill mobs. Just like what Cardinal said, they had fluctlights. Nothing could mimic the raw emotion Kirito saw in their eyes.

"Don't worry," Kirito got out, breathing heavily from the strain. "Your friend isn't dead. He will reappear later in your home base."

Something unidentifiable flashed in the eyes of his two assailants. Kirito thought it might have been grief. "How can we believe you, _human?_ You just killed our friend in front of us, and you have killed many others of our clan," one of the goblins hissed, eyes narrowing.

"Because," Kirito grunted, putting as much of his weight as he could into the sword lock, "I am a swordsman-in-training. I fight with—gah—honor! I was attacked first, and I defended myself and my family!"

With those words, he put all of his strength into his push and shoved the goblins back, making them fall backward and drop their swords.

Kirito took a deep breath, settling into the starting stance of the Aincrad style. He was determined to give them a fair right. "You may not believe me, but you will find out soon enough. Cardinal promised me that all non-player beings would live again after their bodies had perished. I can reunite you with your friend the quick way if you so desire, or, you could leave. As long as you leave my family alone and whole, I will not harm you."

Instead of standing again and fighting him as he expected, the goblins instead remained on the ground. "You fought with honor," agreed one of the goblins, the one that hadn't spoken before. "If you have spoken the truth and it is indeed due to you that our brethren remain alive, you will have gained an ally. Now, I request that we be reunited with them the quick way, as you offered."

Kirito sighed. "If that's what you want... I'll try to make it painless."

He took a step forward and swung his sword, closing his eyes as the blade sliced through the air.

Doing his best to ignore the sounds of ripping flesh and the thumps that their heads made as they hit the ground, Kirito turned towards the rest of the group and the goblins they were still fighting. It was time to protect his family.

* * *

"Ew," complained Suguha as she tried to clean off a stain of blood with her sleeves.

All of the men present blushed and turned away. The stain was on her chest.

"Sugu!" Kirito exclaimed, covering his eyes with his hands and angling his head downwards towards the ground. "You're in public!"

Suguha squeaked, blushing as she also turned away, obviously realizing the reason for everyone's embarrassment.

" _Honestly_ , Suguha-chan," Liz chided with a teasing smile. "You're going to give them all nosebleeds! Well... hopefully not Kirito, but the rest of them, sure."

Quite out of nowhere, there was a loud yawning noise emanating from Kirito's shirt pocket. "Oh, Yui's awake!" Suguha said happily, turning towards her brother with an eager smile, her earlier embarrassment forgotten.

A second later, a tiny head emerged from the pocket, looking around blearily. "What did I miss," she mumbled, her eyes half-closed and face relaxed with the remnants of sleep.

"Well," said Klein cheerfully, "we got in a big fight with some goblins, and my arm hurts like hell!"

"Oh no," Yui said, now fully alert as she flew out of her hidey-hole and shifted into a cute little girl, landing on the ground with barely any sound at all. "Are you okay, Klein?"

"No," he whined, pulling up his sleeve to show the shallow cut along his forearm.

Kirito burst into laughter.

"Stop that!" Asuna scolded, flicking his ear, though she couldn't quite suppress a smile.

Klein huffed, his eyes twinkling with suppressed mirth. "Not everyone's so dark and tough like you, Kirito!" he said, coughing to cover up the sliver of a laugh that escaped at the end of the sentence. "Back to the topic at hand, though, I was lucky enough to only get this scratch. Not everyone here was as lucky as I was, though. I mean, look at Dale!"

Everyone's eyes swiveled to the portly man, who was clutching his left arm... which was only half there. "Why didn't you say anything?" Liz almost-but-not-quite screamed.

The man simply grimaced. "Asuna, healing crystal?" Kirito said urgently, grasping her shoulder.

"Got it," she confirmed, pulling out a green crystal and rushing over to the wounded man. "Heal."

It turned out that Dale was not the only one with a severe injury who was being quiet about it. When all was said and done, Asuna had ended up using half of her crystals.

"Idiots," she had muttered, eying Klein's former guild with annoyance as she and Kirito made their way to the front, Yui nearly attached to Kirito's hip.

"Let's get going again," Kirito said, grinning at them. "Hey Yui, can you tell us where the nearest town is? And we're not looking to go back to the Town of Beginnings."

The little girl appeared to be thinking very hard about something for the next quarter-minute. Then, she nodded. "That way," she said happily, pointing down the path in the direction leading further away from the starter town. "It's not too far, you should be able to make it there before dark."

The entire party sighed with nearly tangible relief. "Oh, thank god," Sinon said dryly, stretching her legs and cracking her knuckles. "I feel like I'm about to collapse."

"Alright, alright," said Kirito, smiling. "We can go, we can go. I know you all probably want to lie down and sleep for a few days after that fight. I remember how I felt after my first fight like this."

"What do you mean, your first fight like this? You've fought like this before?" Kunimittz demanded, the rest of Fuurinkazan looking equally suspicious.

 _Shit... I forgot myself..._ "I... not quite this intense, no, but I have been in a few fights. It feels kind of like how I feel right now."

Appeased, Kunimittz shrugged. "Well, that's understandable, I guess."

Kirito was about to turn around but stopped when he saw Eugeo's concerned stare. Looking at his best friend and partner, he sighed, knowing Eugeo would've seen right through the lie.

 _Why would you lie about something like that?_ said his look. Kirito tried his best to shake it off and shoot back a look of his own that said _I'll tell you later_.

Finally turning around, he faced his fiancée and daughter. "Time to go?" he asked them with a smile which was genuine once more.

"Time to go," Asuna affirmed with a tone that conveyed everything at once, a blinding smile lighting up her face. Kirito felt his heart stutter as he took in the boundless love and understanding that hid in her eyes, reserved only for him.

There was no need for more words. The large group set off along the path once more, the couple holding hands while their daughter clung to Kirito. Despite the battle that had taken place shortly before, everyone was at peace again, and soon, they would be at the next town, able to finally relax after the extremely stressful day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit shorter than the last chapter, but this was too good of a place to end to pass up. The next time you're reading this, they'll be in town, where Eugeo and Alice finally get to understand what the fuck is going on.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my attempt at a combat scene. I'll admit it actually came out better than I was expecting, but then again, it was my first time. I'm probably just biased because I'm the writer.
> 
> Leave a comment! I enjoy those so much more than kudos because it actually tells me what you, the reader, are thinking about this whole thing. (Like, is there something you think I should change? Do you have any future plot suggestions/requests? Did you enjoy the chapter? What did you like/not like about it?) Of course, there's no obligation to comment, it just makes me happy.
> 
> I hope you liked the new chapter, see you next time!


	4. The Timeless Knights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm equating Shear, which is Underworld's currency according to the wiki, to about the same value as Cor. This means that a night at a cheap inn at the Town of Beginnings is about 50 Shear per room.  
> Sorry about the lack of progression in this chapter, but there are a few important conversations and developments that take place, alongside some fluff. Who doesn't like fluff? I suppose I should stick a warning about how slow-paced this is to the first chapter, though.

The town was nice, Kirito thought, peaceful.

They had all sighed in relief when they finally spotted the town. It was a symbol of safety, somewhere that they could lay low and unwind after what had been an extremely stress-filled day for most of them. Unfortunately, it failed to fully assuage the unease held in the hearts of several of the original SAO survivors, because as quaint and friendly and _warm_ as it was, it was still extremely unfamiliar. It was unfamiliar even to Alice and Eugeo, Kirito noted, which meant it wasn't a town directly ported over from Underworld either.

It was a completely alien environment.

While Kirito wasn't ordinarily bothered by unfamiliar environments, having experienced the phenomena a multitude of times before in situations such as GGO or his initial entry to Underworld. This time, however, he was without a guide. In those previous experiences, he always had someone who knew what was going on, such as Sinon, Eugeo, or even his own sister during the first time he dove into ALO. Hell, even in SAO he could initially rely on his beta-testing experiences. Not to mention, it wasn't just him that was at risk... he glanced around him at the smiling, relieved faces of his pseudo-family...

They were all in danger. It wasn't just him... he couldn't be his normally-reckless self now, as a single mistake could get everyone he loved killed. He sighed.

"Kirito?" came the worried voice of his best friend, cutting through his spiraling thoughts. "Are you okay? You had this... stare. Your eyes looked lifeless!"

Kirito winced, feeling everyone's eyes snap to him. "I... I'm fine, Eugeo, thanks." He gave his friend a faint smile, letting him know he was truly okay, even if he felt uneasy. Having finally escaped his thoughts, he decided it would be nice to finally take in his surroundings. If he was worried about the unfamiliar look of everything, the only solution was to familiarize himself with it, right?

With a start, Kirito realized they were in the town square. It was a relatively small space in comparison to the large central plaza in the Town of Beginnings, but it wasn't exactly _small_. In the center, there was a large statue of what looked like a huntsman. The man who it was modeled after looked like he had been sculpted while wearing his best clothing. The leather coat looked well-tailored, and the fedora looked stylish. The shoes looked reminiscent of American cowboy boots Kirito had seen when his mother and sister had dragged him out to go shopping. On his back was a quiver of arrows, the feathered ends detailed enough to look real, and a bow was held at the man's side.

All in all, the statue struck a dramatic figure, large enough to cast a shadow that stretched all the way to the door of a nearby shop.

The floor was cobblestone, which spiraled out, starting from the statue and stretching all the way to the buildings surrounding it on all sides.

The buildings and shops which framed the square were all either wooden, stone, or a mix. As he looked around, Kirito saw a few notable shops, ones which he resolved to check out later. Notably, there was _Alna's Smith Shop_ , _Mystically Magical_ , and the _Light Gear Shop_ , all of which looked like they were there to supply weapons and armor to travelers. Kirito was especially excited to see what the _Mystically_ _Magical_ shop contained, since as far as he knew, Aincrad was magic-free, excluding crystals, of course. Aside from those, there appeared to be several bars and food shops, but they didn't concern Kirito overly much. Inns tended to have passable meals whether he was in Aincrad or Underworld. Of course, there were exceptions, but for the most part, it was the same.

"This is a nice town," Kirito said, taking a few steps towards the statue as he tried to get a better look. "I like the feel."

Klein was grinning as he stepped up and slung an arm around Kirito's shoulders. "Kinda rustic, right?"

Ignoring them, Asuna gestured to the inn titled _Miza's Inn_. "Should we book a few rooms in there? It doesn't look too expensive."

"What an unoriginal name," Liz said, eyeing the sign as she grabbed Silica's wrist to pull her along, walking towards the entrance of the inn.

Silica squawked. "I can walk!" she said, pouting at her friend who blatantly ignored her protests and continued to drag her away from the rest of the group.

Kirito shook his head, laughing quietly as he gently shoved Klein away. "Okay, Yui, time to get down again," Kirito said as he looked up at his daughter who was sitting on his shoulders.

"Okay Daddy," Yui said, sounding slightly disappointed as she hopped down and grabbed his hand. Asuna smiled at the interaction.

"Shouldn't we be following them?" asked Eugeo, eyebrows raised.

"Probably," admitted Klein as he regained his balance. "Let's go, guys. Who knows what trouble Liz'll get herself into without us!"

"Less than I'd get into with you there!" came the answering shout.

"Damn, she's got good ears," complained Klein as the group started walking towards the inn.

* * *

"Welcome to Miza's Inn! My name is Miza, how can I help you?" chirped a woman who couldn't be a day over twenty-five from behind a mahogany desk sitting next to a staircase.

Kirito didn't reply, distracted as he was by the artful interior decoration. The walls were made of stone. They looked rough, but when Kirito ran his hand over it, he found it surprisingly smooth. The floor was made of light brown wood. It looked polished and clean, giving Kirito the sense that it was very well-maintained. Past the desk, it looked somewhat like an Italian restaurant. The tables, like the desk, were mahogany, the tops hosting clean white tablecloths. The chairs were wood as well, but a lighter shade that Kirito could not place. The otherwise blank walls were populated sparsely by paintings that Kirito would not have thought out of place in a museum.

"Thank you," replied Asuna, shooting Kirito a nasty look; the woman had been looking at him when she'd made her greeting. "We'd like to book a few rooms for the night?"

"Wonderful. How many?"

Asuna looked at Klein. "How many rooms do you need for your guild, Klein? Kirito can share with Yui and me, and I'm sure we could set up some other arrangements for everyone else."

Klein rubbed his chin thoughtfully, glancing at the awkward-looking men who were shifting nervously, clearly feeling out of place. "I guess we could do three a room... does that work for you guys?"

There was a general murmur of agreement.

"Okay, two rooms for Fuurinkazan," Asuna decided. "Liz, Silica, Sinon, would you be okay sharing a room?"

"We can take Suguha too," Liz offered, smiling when the mentioned girl shot her a grateful look.

"So far we have four rooms," Asuna said, eyes sweeping over the group. She was forgetting something... Oh, Eugeo and Alice!

"I will purchase my own room," said Alice when Asuna turned to her. "I do not wish to impose."

Asuna frowned. "You wouldn't be imposing," she protested. "We're all friends here."

"You do not know me," the blond girl denied. "Both you and I would sleep better separated."

Asuna's frown deepened, showing her clear unhappiness with this statement.

"What about you, Eugeo?" Asuna eventually asked, giving up trying to convince Alice to stay with one of them.

The flaxen-haired boy shrugged. "I wouldn't feel comfortable intruding on your family dynamic, Asuna, and I don't know any of the other people here. I'll also buy myself my own room."

"Okay," Asuna said, looking disappointed that two of their new friends felt so excluded.

"Six rooms, then?" asked Miza.

Asuna gaped. "How... never mind. Yes, six rooms is actually correct. How much do I owe?"

There was suddenly a wave of protests as most of the people there wanted to split the cost, not feeling like Asuna should shoulder all of the expenses.

"I'll pay," Asuna said firmly, giving each person who protested a look that _dared_ them to argue further. "How much?"

"Should be around... three hundred Shear? Yes, that sounds right," Miza said, smiling. "You can pay in the morning, though, so don't worry."

Asuna opened her menu and made a trade window. A second later, it popped up again in front of Miza, who looked at it with a large degree of surprise.

"What is this?" the cheerful host queried, staring at the floating screen in front of her, making most of the party in front of her do a double-take. _That was not normal NPC behavior_...

Grinning, Kirito quickly explained. "It's a new type of Sacred Art, only developed recently. It makes trading so easy. Just hit the blue button to accept or red to reject. The payment information should be listed there."

Miza nodded knowingly while several of Kirito's party members shifted their incredulous looks from Miza to him. "Ah, how delightful. Can you believe the things they come up with these days? Why just a few days ago my neighbor taught me how to cook with the Sacred Arts! Truly wonderful." She hit the blue button before gasping as the coins winked into existence on top of the desk with a soft _pop_.

"Ingenious," she muttered, running her hands over the pile of coins as if to make sure they were real. "Would you mind showing me how to initiate one of those?"

Kirito shrugged. "Can't see why not. Just hold your right arm out and up, and then swipe downwards with your index and middle fingers. It will open up a whole menu to you. If you explore it, I'm sure you will find the option."

Miza followed his instructions and gasped again as the white, floating menu popped into existence, though her shock was nothing compared to most of those in Kirito's party, who thought she was simply an NPC. "Thank you, swordsman," she said respectfully, peering at the menu with interest. She shook her head, banishing her thoughts. "I'll take you to your rooms."

* * *

"This is nice," Kirito decided as he sat down on the bed.

Miza had just left them, having shown them their rooms. Each room was almost uniform, only told apart by their location and the paintings on display. They each had two beds, a table, and a sofa. The walls were stone and the floor was wood maintained in the same manner as the downstairs area. On the far wall, there was a circular window, letting in light.

"I agree," agreed Asuna. "However, you owe Eugeo and Alice an explanation, not to mention you seem to know a lot more than we do about what's going on, so you owe the rest of us an explanation too."

Kirito sighed. "Yeah, I agree. However, I would like to speak to Eugeo privately first before I explain to Alice too, as there are a few additional things I'd like to talk to him about."

Asuna gave him a small smile. "I understand. I will take Yui with me and we can go hang out with the girls. I'll fetch Eugeo on the way and send him up here."

"Okay, thank you Asuna, I love you," Kirito said warmly, smiling back at her.

"Good luck, Daddy!" said Yui as Asuna guided her out of the door. Kirito collapsed backward onto the bed, feeling exhausted.

A few minutes later, a knock at the door alerted him that Eugeo was probably waiting outside. Steeling his nerves, Kirito sat up.

"Come in, Eugeo," he called. The door opened and Eugeo stepped in, smiling nervously at his best friend. He made his way over to the other bed and sat down, clasping his hands in his lap.

"This won't be easy," warned Kirito, avoiding meeting Eugeo's eyes.

"It's okay, Kirito," Eugeo said, his calm smile at odds with the concern and nervousness warring for control inside him. "Begin wherever you would like."

Kirito sighed. "As I'm sure you can tell, I have my memory back, and I never lost it in the first place. The reason I lied was not out of ill intent, as I hope you know, it was because of two reasons. One, having just met me you wouldn't have believed my story, and two, well, I didn't want to tear apart your whole worldview."

"I can't deny that it hurts that you would lie," admitted Eugeo, "but I'm sure I will understand better once you tell your story." _I hope,_ he added silently.

Kirito shifted, repositioning himself to lie down on the bed. "I'm not from Underworld, Eugeo. There is a... world outside of Underworld, and that's where I am from. To be honest, I'm not actually sure how I ended up in Underworld. From what I could remember, there wasn't anything that should have forced me in here... but that's beside the point. Underworld was created by my world. I wasn't personally involved, but there was a company, called RATH, that designed the world and sent the first few inhabitants inside."

Eugeo stared at Kirito. "You're right, I wouldn't have believed you when we first met. I can tell you're not lying now, though. This... this is crazy. So, your world created Underworld, what's it like? What kind of people have the power to create worlds?"

Kirito sat up again and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, we just have some more advanced tools, but besides that, we're humans, just like you. No special powers, just humans."

"Huh," said Eugeo, somewhat surprised. "Where are we now?"

Kirito grimaced. "I... that's a bit harder to explain. Somehow, it seems like we traveled back in time four years. I'm not sure how it happened, except Cardinal said that our perfect weapon control arts colliding had something to do with it. Either way, we're back in another artificial world, called Aincrad. It was meant to be a game called Sword Art Online, but the creator trapped everyone inside when we tried to start playing. Only... this world isn't how we remember it. Cardinal said that a lot of Underworld data got sent back in time too. She said that everything got altered, so we really don't know what to expect. Also, just so you know, the only way to escape this world, according to the creator, is to beat all one hundred floors that compose this massive castle."

"Dang," said Eugeo. "we're stuck in here?"

Kirito nodded sadly. "Yeah. Last time we got out early due to an exploit. We left around floor seventy-five, and it took us two years to get even there. Unfortunately, that shortcut isn't quite available anymore, thanks to the merge."

"Okay, I understand," said Eugeo, nodding. "Just one more question, how do you know all of these people? They're from your world? Also, what's the deal with that girl, Yui, and your... wife?"

"Reasonable question," Kirito said. "I met almost all of them in here, in this world. The few exceptions are Suguha, who is my sister back in my world, and Sinon, who I met while playing another game after we escaped this one. Yui is an artificial intelligence, meaning something sentient created by humans from my world. She was meant to help other players when they were mentally unstable. Unfortunately, the controlling system of this world barred her from completing her directive, and she fell apart. Asuna and I found her unconscious in the woods, without any memories at all. While we cared for her and tried to help her get better, we ended up adopting her as our daughter. Asuna... I also met her in here. She was the vice-commander of one of the major leading guilds, and I was one of the most powerful players in the game. We didn't get along much after she joined that guild, but we eventually became friends again, and over time, became more. Now, she's my fiancée."

Eugeo leaned back and smiled, though it had a slightly sad edge. "I'm really happy for you, Kirito. You deserve this."

"Did I say something? You look sad..." Kirito asked, frowning.

Eugeo was quick to shake his head. "No, no. It's nothing. Don't worry about me."

Kirito eyed his friend shrewdly. "You're my best friend, Eugeo, don't forget that. You've been my best friend for two years! This doesn't change anything."

Eugeo nearly teared up. _How did he know..._

"You're really easy to read, my friend," Kirito laughed lightly.

"Like you're not an open book either!" came the retort. They both laughed at that.

Kirito let his laughter die down. "Any more questions?"

Eugeo shook his head. "None at the moment. You've done a fairly good job explaining. Anything I'm unsure about I can puzzle out myself, I'm sure."

"Good," said Kirito, nodding. He stood. "Now that I think about it, I should have called in Alice a little while ago, after we got the talk about my memories out of the way... Oh, well. Too late. I have to talk to my SAO friends and make sure they know what's going on now. I'm sure they're a little confused too... Oh, hey Eugeo?"

"Yeah?"

"Well... would you mind explaining to Alice? I can pop in to answer any of her questions after I talk to my other friends..." Kirito asked hesitantly.

"I can give her the basics, I guess. And yeah, if you come in after to answer any of her questions, that would be a good idea, I agree," Eugeo accepted.

"Whew," Kirito let out, standing up, "you're the best!"

"Don't I know it," said Eugeo, laughing quietly.

The room was quiet after that, both boys leaving quickly and with little noise.

* * *

"Time travel, huh?" said Liz, frowning from her position on the floor. "Well, that sucks. I can't say I'm too happy about reliving four years of my life, but I do have one very important question."

Leaning against the wall, Kirito gave her a quizzical look. "What?"

"If this is SAO, why is it so different?" she asked, waving her arm around to signify everything around them.

"I second that question," Silica added, lying haphazardly on the sofa.

"And what was up with that NPC?" said Sinon, who was leaning forward eagerly from her spot on the edge of the bed.

"How did you get her to open a menu?" added Suguha, lying on the other bed.

"Why does everything feel so real?" Asuna finished, sitting next to Liz on the floor with Yui asleep on her lap.

Kirito massaged his temples, slumping slightly. "About the changes, I can only guess, but Cardinal said something about Underworld and SAO merging, which altered the map data, I think."

"Underworld..." Asuna interrupted suddenly, her stare making Kirito feel very small and insignificant, "how is Underworld part of this? I get that you were in Underworld at the time before we came back, but the rest of us were in ALO. If Underworld is an influence, how did ALO not get thrown into the mix too?"

"Well," Kirito said, struggling to keep his thoughts organized under the barrage of questions being hurled his way, "once again, I can only guess, but I think it's because of something else Cardinal said. She said that we got thrown back here because three particularly powerful attacks from me, Eugeo, and an enemy of ours sent us back. Since the catalyst was in Underworld, maybe that's why? It's kind of sketchy, I know, but what other explanation is there?"

The girls all gave him unsatisfied looks.

Kirito sighed. _What did they want from him?_ "You asked about the NPCs? Underworldian residents aren't NPCs. They have souls, or more technically, fluctlights. Fluctlights are composed of light particles within the microtubules of a nerve cell. It's essentially the human consciousness. They aren't normal, born-in-the-real-world humans, though, they're _artificial fluctlights_ , made by RATH."

Most of the girls rolled their eyes, familiar by now with his propensity to go too deep in his technical explanation.

"Hey, isn't RATH the company you were working at?" Suguha asked, ignoring most of the rest of her brother's explanation.

"Yeah, it was," Kirito replied happily, oblivious to their collective despair. "Anyways, the reason Miza was able to open the menu was that she is a person with a soul and a consciousness. While Cardinal manipulated the system to allow the Underworldians to respawn like NPCs, it makes sense that they would get some player-permissions too."

The girls made sounds of dawning realization. Why couldn't he just have phrased it like that before? "Fair enough," Asuna conceded, finally receiving an answer she was somewhat satisfied with.

"The reason everything feels so real is that that's how it felt in Underworld," Kirito explained further. "Cardinal hinted that Nerve Gear is much more advanced than we thought, and it was only limited by the game. When the Underworld data got brung back, she manipulated the system again to replace the SAO graphics and perception systems with Underworld's."

"Cool," Suguha said, eyes dull.

Having finally finished, he took in their blank looks, making him blush and rub the back of his head sheepishly. "I geeked out a little bit there, didn't I?"

Silica giggled, rolling off the sofa and hitting the ground with a thump. "Maybe a littl— _Oomph!_ "

"Silica!" Liz yelled, shooting to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Silica croaked, "I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine," Kirito argued, quickly making his way to her side.

Silica winced as she got into a sitting position on the floor. "I don't know how, but—" She coughed. "—ugh. My throat feels... sore. I don't know how that—" _Cough_. "—happened."

Kirito frowned. _How did that happen? Why was it her throat of all things that was injured?_ "Tilt your head up, Silica, let me try something," he said, sitting down next to her as she complied. " _System Call: Generate Luminous Element_."

The room was dead silent, save breathing, as a light element formed on Kirito's fingers. He pressed them to Silica's throat, and she let out a quiet gasp as she felt the mild damage her throat suffered repair itself.

"Wow," she enthused, her voice sounding normal again. "How did you do that, Kirito?"

"It's Underworld's magic system, or it's at least what they call magic. I think it's actually system commands that the residents figured out how to use."

Asuna was suddenly right in front of him. "Can you teach us?" she asked, looking intently into his eyes, her face only inches from his. It made it extremely hard to say no to... not that he would.

"I would love to," he answered, slightly short of breath. "Only, I have to make sure you have a high enough System Control Authority. We can figure that out later, though. Isn't it time for dinner?"

"Mmm," she replied, deciding that kissing him was a better answer than words.

Several variations of the phrase "Ugh! Get a room!" came from the rest of the room's inhabitants, except for Yui, of course, who was now sleeping on Suguha's lap instead of Asuna's.

"Hmm," Asuna said faux-thoughtfully as she pulled back, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "We already have a room, don't we Kirito?"

"Uh-huh," Kirito replied blankly, mind still sluggish from the unexpected kiss.

"Gross!" yelled Liz. A second later, Asuna shrieked as a pillow hit the back of her head. She shot to her feet and spun around, glaring at the obvious culprit.

Liz grinned. "Come and get me!" she yelled gleefully, ducking as the pillow she'd thrown sailed through the space her head had been a second before.

"Oh, I will," retorted Asuna as she snatched another pillow from the nearest bed.

The room dissolved into chaos.

* * *

" _Man_ am I hungry," said Klein as they sat down at the long table that they grabbed.

"You're always hungry," said Sinon, grabbing her extra-large water goblet and draining it in seconds.

There was a long silence.

Sinon looked around at her friends, who were all staring. "What?"

Klein chuckled. "Need some more water, Sinon?"

"Dunno what you're talking about," she drawled, picking up a cherry tomato off her plate and absently flicking it at his forehead.

"You're ridiculous, Sinonon," Asuna declared as she picked up her fork and started to eat, ignoring Klein's annoyed exclamation.

"Okay," said Kirito, cutting in and grabbing everyone's attention. "We need to make a game plan for tomorrow. Gotta pan out, see what quests are in the area, start mapping. Argo can't do it all herself, you know."

"I agree," said Asuna before taking a sip of her water. "Given the rather _obvious_ differences from the... beta, the maps she's already made are probably useless. God knows she's good at what she does, but she can't map an entire floor by herself, especially not a floor as big as floor one."

"How should we split up then?" asked Klein after he swallowed his bite. "We're obviously not heading out in a single party, that would be ridiculously stupid, as we need to level up too. Dunno about you guys, but I'm sitting down at level one. Not to mention, we wouldn't get much done as a big party."

"You and your guild shouldn't have much of a problem by yourselves, right?" Liz asked Klein as she leaned forward with her elbows propping her up, stabbing her fork at the air pointing in his direction.

Klein grinned at the rest of Fuurinkazan, who looked like they felt out of place again. "I can handle my guys, don't you worry about it, Lizzie."

"Uh-huh," said Liz, unconvinced, as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "I've seen your 'responsibility' before, Klein. And don't you dare call me Lizzie ever again."

"Liz!" he protested.

"Hey, hey," interrupted Kirito, leaning forward and waving his hands in the space between Klein and Liz, "let's keep things on-topic, at least for now. You can tease the crap out of Klein later, Liz."

"Back to the topic at hand," said Asuna, picking up where Kirito left off, "Klein can handle his guild, so that leaves the rest of us. We should split into two parties, right? The amount of people we have makes that work since there are eight of us left."

"Nine!" Yui argued, puffing up her cheeks in irritation and pouting adorably.

Asuna smiled at her daughter. "Nine," she agreed, unable to argue to such a cute face.

"Yeah," Kirito said, dragging the focus back to their planning, "two parties sounds about right. I know they say six per is optimal, but I always worked better with fewer anyways."

"Whoa," Sinon said after downing her second goblet of water, looking at Kirito wide-eyed. "I didn't think he'd ever show me his edgy side! Wow, I can't believe I've finally seen the edgy teen that's always been lurking under the surface."

"Shut up," Kirito retorted, though without much heat as he visibly struggled to keep a smile off his face. "We keep getting off-topic."

"Okay, party layouts," Asuna said, swallowing another bite. "I would like to be in the same party as Kirito-kun."

"No arguments there," Liz said dryly, rolling her eyes. "Just keep me away from you two. I'll be too distracted by your lovey-dovey faces to concentrate on fighting."

"I'll party with Onii-chan too!" said Suguha quickly, before blushing and looking away.

Sinon sighed, shaking her head sadly. _Way too obvious, girl_.

"Okay, so that's three, then," said Kirito, oblivious as always. "Anyone else with us? Otherwise, you're with the other group."

 _Wait_ , thought Sinon, _I'm with the new people if I don't say anything?_ She glanced at Silica, who was grinning at Liz.

"I'll join you guys," Sinon said to Kirito, smiling when she saw Silica relax slightly. While they were all friends, Liz and Silica were undoubtedly best friends.

"Sounds good," agreed Kirito. "So, to check, parties are Klein, Dale, Dynamm, Kunimittz, Issin, and Harry One for the first party, me, Asuna, Sinon, and Sugu for the second party, and Eugeo, Alice, Liz, and Silica for the third party?"

Everyone nodded. "That sounds about right," Asuna agreed. "Yui can come with us."

"Yay!" exclaimed the little girl, who upon drawing attention to herself, blushed and wiped the sauce that had accumulated there off her face.

"One last order of business," began Asuna, smirking at Kirito, "we said we were going to make a guild."

Kirito held his hands up in a _hold on a minute_ position. "We can't make those until floor three, I thought?"

Her grin widened. "Lucky for you, I was browsing the menu while we were walking, just to make sure everything was the same. Guess what I found?"

"Oh, no."

"Oh, yes."

"Any arguments against making a guild now?" Asuna asked. "Accepting any and all opinions from anyone whose name isn't Kirito!"

"Hey!" came the indignant response from the mentioned player.

Liz grinned at Kirito. "No arguments from me or Silica over here!"

Klein looked at his guild, they all shrugged. "Nothing from us."

Eugeo frowned. "Kirito looks kind of uncomfortable with this..."

"It's fine, Eugeo," Kirito said quickly, waving away his friend's concerns, "it's all in good fun."

Sinon pushed her plate away, sighing contentedly. "That was some good food."

 _Silence_.

"What? Did I say something?"

"Anyways," said Suguha, plowing through the silence like a truck, "no arguments here. I'm actually excited to be in a guild! It sounds fun."

Alice simply shook her head.

"Okay," said Asuna, looking excited. "We seem to be in agreement, though we need a name."

"Hey hey," said Klein, "what about _New Fuurinkazan?_ "

"...No," said Sinon, giving Klein a dry look.

"Ooh, I've been sitting on this one since you said something about a guild, Kirito," said Liz, grinning. "I was hoping we'd get a chance to use it before I forgot about it."

"Let's hear it," encouraged Kirito.

"How about..." she paused for dramatic effect. "The _Timeless Knights!_ "

"...Is it just me or does that sound like a blowoff of the _Sleeping Knights?_ " asked Klein.

"I like it," Asuna stated firmly. It felt like it was honoring her dead friend, even if she wasn't quite dead anymore...

"Okay," said Kirito, smiling at Asuna, knowing exactly what she was thinking. " _Timeless Knights_ it is then."

"Will you do the honors?" asked Sinon, leaning forward.

Kirito scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh... where is it?"

 _Whoops._ "I'll show you, Kirito. It's just through here," Asuna said as she pulled up her own menu and showed him the steps to find it.

"Ah, there we go. Thanks, Asuna," Kirito said, smiling. He filled out a few boxes and suddenly, there was a pop-up:

**_Congratulations!_ **

_You have created the guild,_ _«Timeless Knights»_

_Guild Commander: Kirito_

_Guild Sub-Commander: Asuna_

_Members: N/A_

"I'll send out the invites in just a second," said Kirito, quickly navigating his menu.

And so, the first and strongest guild in Aincrad was born. Asuna couldn't help but grin. They were going to be _unstoppable_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray, the guild is here! Wooooo. I think the name is cool. Is the name cool? Review and tell me if you think the name is cool :)  
> This took a little longer to get out, I know, it's here now!  
> Next chapter we're going to be bringing in another member of the main cast! I can't wait.  
> See you next time!


End file.
